Study on Dean supporters reported by Globe

[kang]

Haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, but I thought people might be interested. There are ones coming out soon for the other camps as well.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2003/11/20/dean_activists_found_to_be_party_core/

[wryter2000]

1. Average income of $67,000?

Whoa! I need a raise. I have to wonder about her sample.

[CMT]

3. I was about to say the same thing

the average is about twice my annual income.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. Average. Not median.

A couple rich folk throw the whole average out of whack. Why do you think Chimp used averages when referring to who benefitted from his tax cuts?

[wryter2000]

9. You have a point

I wish they'd reported median. I'll bet her research includes it.

[onebigbadwulf]

2. I make about...

negative 10 thousand a year. Oh silly college.

[wryter2000]

5. Maybe the people who go to meet ups are different from the rest of us

She has a very large sample there. Maybe the meet-up people are different from other Deanies. :shrug:

[KaraokeKarlton]

4. One quarter of the study was done in Massachussetts?

That's going to give very misleading results. Massachussetts is extremely liberal and pretty well known for political activism. My meetups don't look anything like that. I'm lucky if I make half the supposed average wage and I've never been involved in politics before. I'm also a registered Independent. The members of my meetup include quite a few pretty wealthy Democrats from an Ivy league college town and a lot of blue collar types who are new to politics.

[wryter2000]

8. And while I always vote

And while I always vote and always vote Dem, this is the first time I've given money to a campaign. I did do some volunteer work for McGovern, but nothing since then.

[ijk]

12. and GenDean?

I wonder whether Generation Dean meetings were included in the study. Most students I know, and many other young people, go to their campus or whatever gendean meetings and skip most of the Meetups. For that matter, many of the most active Deanies around here don't go to many of the meetups anymore; with all the other events they do and phone calls and e-mail lists, there's no particular need. The meetups have become mostly a way to bring initiate new people.

[xultar]

6. Its cool that 84% of Deans supporters are VOTERs. That is

something that the Democratic Primaries and the 2004 elections.

[wtmusic]

10. And we drink Kool-Aid

where did that start anyway?

[MercutioATC]

14. Yummm...Kool-Aid...

If you're serious, it's a reference to Jim Jones who had all of his followers so brainwashed that they committed mass suicide by drinking poisoned Kool-Aid rather than have their commune investigated (to the point of feeding their kids the drink, too).

It's a weak-minded attempt at a slam on us Dean supporters by people who think we follow Dean blindly.

[LuminousX]

15. Oh Yeah!

[w4rma]

11. generally liked…Bradley…evenly divided over…Nader…McCain.

…
They generally liked another past anti-establishment presidential candidate, former Democratic Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, and were evenly divided over two others, Ralph Nader of the Green Party and Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona.
…
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2003/11/20/dean_activists_found_to_be_party_core/

… surveyed 600 participants from 15 states who attended the October 2003 Meetup. …

• Demographically, they are mostly Caucasian, middle aged, middle income professionals.
• …
• They had favorable views of Bill Bradley, and liked John McCain and Ralph Nader more than Ross Perot.

…
http://www.bentley.edu/news-events/pr_view.cfm?id=1208

[helleborient]

13. This does match very well my experience of Meetups and volunteering

For Dean.

We do have college students but the most active people tend to skew older and with more income.

The majority I have met are lifelong Democrats that are looking for a significant national change in the party structure and the country's political landscape.

And, most of these money do have money to give to the campaign, but few have given before and tend not to part with the money easily.

It is a strong, fervent, well-educated core.

[ajacobson]

16. Meetup

Meetup.com people hit three cherries on the one-armed bandit when the Dean campaign started using Meetup. Now everybody is using it and probably it's going to be a component of most campaigns from now on. Well, until the next great thing to come along.

I think this is one of those good things that the Internet was intended to bring us. Doesn't quite cancel out the badness of spam, but it's still a good thing.

[Northwind]

17. A lot of people here will hate reading this

But in a lot of the country, 67,000 a year is NOT a lot of money. In California or New York City, for instance, that is subsistence income. Here in Dallas one person can live comfortably but not ostentatiously on that. It depends on where you are. Mass. is a fairly wealthy state, with above average property values, its average income is going to be higher, so there 67k is probably decidedly middle-class.

[helleborient]

18. 67k is middle class in most of the country...

It's not wealthy and not poor...that's the definition of middle class.

[creativelcro]

19. exactly right

same in Boston and many MA communities. If you live alone on a single income and rent a decent place in a decent part of town, it's not easy to make it with less than 60k. -CV

[bread_and_roses]

20. According to Census Bureau

March 2001 about 60% of families in the US made less than $62,500.